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ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A six-member “go team” of federal safety investigators was en route to
Alaska’s Kenai peninsula yesterday to determine why a float plane crashed and burned at an airport
in the fishing community of Soldotna, killing all 10 people on board.

No survivors were found after the plane, a de Havilland DHC3 Otter operated by the local
air-taxi company Rediske Air, crashed at the airport in Soldotna, about 80 miles southwest of
Anchorage, shortly after 11 a.m. local time on Sunday.

National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Eric Weiss said the crash is considered a
priority for the agency, because the plane was an air-taxi, which is held to a higher standard than
general-aviation aircraft.

Authorities have not identified any of the crash victims, but the
Anchorage Daily News reported that the pilot was 42-year-old Walter Rediske, co-owner of
Rediske Air.

The Soldotna Police Department said all of the passengers were believed to be from South
Carolina and that it was working with authorities there to notify next of kin.

Soldotna police officials said all 10 bodies had been recovered and sent to the state medical
examiner’s office in Anchorage for identification and autopsies.

Rediske Air provides sightseeing charters and air-taxi services, according to a profile with the
Better Business Bureau. A spokeswoman for the company declined to comment yesterday.

Clint Johnson, a spokesman for the NTSB, told the
Daily News that an initial report from a witness at the small airport indicated the plane
was taking off when it crashed.

Capt. Lesley Quelland of Central Emergency Services told the
Daily News that the agency’s fire crews were first to reach the burning plane and “saw the
plume immediately when we left the station,” 3 miles away.

When firefighters arrived, she said, “The aircraft was crashed off the side of the runway and it
was fully involved in flames.”

The mountainous Kenai peninsula, south of Anchorage, is a popular destination for tourists,
fishermen and hikers.